> Does anybody else here reflexively imagine Stewie of _Family Guy_
> whenever you hear Ahmed Rashid (a Pakistani who NPR often has talking
> about Afghanistan)?
>
During the Afghanistan war in 2001-02, I was supposed to write an article for the Nation about the war and the humanitarian situation. I wanted to interview Ahmed Rashid, but he was in the region, and given the time difference, that meant the most convenient time for him was 5am for me. I was in my early 20's and living in New York, so it was much easier for me to stay up until 5am than to wake up in time for 5am, so I decided to do it that way.
But that night, my friends persuaded me to go out. The bars and clubs close at 4am in New York, so a little after 4, after many drinks, I got home and waited for the appointed time to call Rashid in Pakistan, using the infinitely long telephone number he had emailed me. The next day (actually, probably the next evening), I listened to the tape of the interview.
Oh, it is one of my most shameful memories of unprofesionalism. It was a recording of a very audibly drunk 23 year old badly slurring his way through an interview with an increasingly annoyed, distinguished expert on South Asia. I think I was so mortified I couldn't bear to listen to the interview all the way through, so it never got transcribed and never got used.
SA